WND EXCLUSIVE

Feds praise 'Islam's work for women's rights'

Want to see your tax dollars promoting Islam and giving Muslims at an Islamic school in New York an opportunity to complain that other people don’t understand them, don’t respect them and discriminate against them in restaurants?

Oh, and you’ll also learn that Islam gave women rights in the 7th century that women in the West had to live without until the 19th and 20th centuries.

Just tune in to the multimedia page at the website for the Women’s Rights National Historical Park.

The Schenectady, N.Y, attraction is a part of the National Park Service. It highlights the campaign for women’s rights and has created a series of at least three videos with students from the local AnNur Islamic School.

The videos provide a forum for students to boast about Islam and complain about how they are treated. The students also express their beliefs about their own behavior and conduct.

And there’s the mention of women’s rights.

Says one student on camera: “People think that Islam oppresses women and there’s no equality, but they’re wrong – there’s equity … 7th century A.D. Islam gave women the right to be involved in politics, the right to earn and keep her own money.”

The student said Islam “gave women the right to work outside of the home, Islam gave women the right to own property, Islam gave women the right to divorce, Islam gave women the right to choose who she marries.”

“Islam gave women a whole bunch of rights that Western women acquired later in the 19th and 20th centuries, and we’ve had these rights since the 7th century A.D., and it’s just not acknowledged worldwide,” he declared.

Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch. commented: “Your tax dollars at work. I am looking forward to seeing the National Park Service videos praising the contributions of Judaism and Christianity to women’s rights.”

The Independent Journal Review commented facetiously that it’s “fantastic that the National Park Service is out there using taxpayer dollars to correct the false record against Muslims, such as the ‘moderate’ Muslim Brotherhood’s scathing backlash against the U.N.’s Declaration of Women’s Rights” or “Muslim states’ objection to ‘gay rights’ at a U.N. human rights forum.”

“Well thank goodness the National Park Service is doing the job that no one else will – defend the history of Islam’s contributions to women’s liberation!”

In one of the videos, a student complains of discrimination.

“A few years ago they made Eid, like a day for schools to close down and people could take a break. People were saying why should it be changed, this is a Christian country. We shouldn’t change for them. But if you look at the Constitution, there’s separation from state and church. So they’re saying if you’re going to go to an Arab country, they are not going to break for Christmas but over here we’re going to break for Eid and Ramada and stuff. It’s actual separation from state and church and they don’t understand that and they think since the majority of the U.S. is Christian that we shouldn’t be equal to other people.”

“The National Park Service earlier this year prepared for sequestration budget cuts by closing visitor centers and furloughing park police – but still managed to produce videos promotion the virtues of Islam’s respect for women’s rights,” the publication said.

“While roads reopened later … visitor centers remain shuttered and fewer seasonal workers are being hired, according to USA Today,” BizPacReview said. But “in videos on the park’s website, children in an Islamic school … ‘discuss their experiences and challenges with negative Muslim stereotypes and assumptions.'”

The publication noted that the claim to Islam’s creation of women’s rights “appears to contradict the ’10 reasons we hate women’s rights’ which the Muslim Brotherhood presented to the United Nations in March.”

“The most egregious aspect of the video is that it was funded with taxpayer dollars,” the publication said.

One commenter on the Jihad Watch site pinpointed his concern: “The salient point here is not whether Islam ‘gave women rights’ (it did not), but that the National Park Service spent taxpayers’ money and time to promote a religion. Since when did NPS’s duties include religion at all?”

Among the remarks in the taxpayer-funded videos:

“We pray five times a day and we fast during the month of Ramadan. … We praise our God every time, and … if we don’t do it our prayer is not counted.”

“They think all Muslims are from an Arab country, and we don’t know how to speak English.”

“If you’re at the mall, they give you the evil eye.”

“Our food is served later … or our food doesn’t came as fast as other people even though they come after us.”

“Everyone just stares at you.”

“They ignore us.”

“A lot of people are against us so they’d do anything to make us look bad.”

The Women’s Rights National Historical Park, established in 1980, comprises about seven acres. It includes four historical properties, one of which is the Wesleyan Chapel, the site of the first Women’s Rights Convention.

The park says that movements seeking to end discrimination based on race, religion and sexual orientation “are all connected in the fight for civil and human rights.”

“Women’s Rights National Historical Park recognizes the efforts of not just Women’s Rights advocates, but all people who struggle to achieve civil and human rights in the United States and around the world.”